Health - Vital vitamin D

A schoolboy, who is campaigning to have pregnant women and children given vitamin D supplements to ward off multiple sclerosis, is one step closer to his goal.

Ryan McLaughlin, whose mother Kirsten was diagnosed with the disease two years ago, was told last week a Government summit would be held to discuss his plea.

Fourteen-year-old Ryan, from Drumchapel in Glasgow, put his case to the Scottish Parliament's petitions committee in June after first leading hundreds of supporters down Edinburgh's Royal Mile. His campaign, Shine on Scotland, has three main goals:

- providing vitamin D to all Scotland's children and pregnant women;

- clarification on the recommended daily allowance;

- to run a public awareness campaign informing the public about the benefits of the vitamin in relation to MS.

Scientists believe vitamin D could prevent up to 80 per cent of cases of MS, which currently has no cure and affects 12,500 Scots, more per head of the population than anywhere else in the world.

www.shineonscotland.org.uk.

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